Animorphs: The Caretaker
by Cobalt Tatsuki
Summary: Things have taken a serious turn for the Animorphs following the events of The Hybrid. They have carefully brokered an alliance with SubVisser Thirteen to destroy Visser Three, but before they can do that, they have to singlehandedly face down an entire
1. Preface

Animorphs:

The Caretaker

**We can't tell you who we are. Or where we live. It's too risky, and we've got to be careful. Really careful.**

**The thing you should know is that everyone is in really big trouble. Yeah. Even you.**

Things have taken a serious turn for the Animorphs. They have carefully brokered an alliance with Sub-Visser Thirteen to destroy Visser Three, but before they can do that, they have to single-handedly face down an entire fleet of Yeerk ships, loyal to Visser Three and his mad plans.

The mission starts out well, but soon the action takes a turn for the worse, as the Animorphs lose both Ax and Marco on the Hork-Bajir planet; the Yeerk capital world, and the most heavily defended one in the empire. With Sub-Visser Thirteen leading them in hiding from both Visser Three's rebels, and the armada of Yeerks loyal to the Council of Thirteen, tensions are running high. The Animorphs know that if they lose the battle here, the war will be lost forever. But the Animorphs soon find themselves with an alternative. They discover the reason for Ax and Marco's disappearance, and at the same time, a way to stop Visser Three. The question is, are they prepared to pay the price for the help they need?


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

**M**y name is Rachel.

That's right, just Rachel. But right now, where I am, my name isn't really that important.

At the moment, I'm cramped into the back of a spaceship built for three, along with four of my friends, two aliens, and someone who it's hard to describe without some explanation.

You see, this all began when we, myself and four of my friends were given the ability to morph into any animal we choose, simply by touching it.

We were given this power by Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, a dying Andalite prince, in order to continue fighting the war for our planet that his people had taken up for us.

Well, it's not really a war; it's more like a slow, insidious infestation. Earth is under attack from a race of parasites called Yeerks, who are determined to take our planet and its people to use as hosts.

But recently, we've taken on another mission. We found out that someone had been murdering the humans we call Controllers; those unlucky enough to have a Yeerk squashed around their brain. And not the kind that fight, either. Ordinary people were being murdered, and we had to find out why.

So Ax and I went out looking for someone we thought would be next on the to-kill list; a Yeerk named Sub-Visser Thirteen. We found her, and just after that, she found _us_, and dragged us back to her laboratory.

And then, we were proved right. The Yeerk-killer was after her too, and it was none other than Visser Three, the Yeerk head honcho himself.

Visser Three nearly killed Ax and me, and the Sub-Visser too, before Jake and the others arrived, and then the ever-courageous Visser made a hasty retreat.

But unfortunately for us, this wasn't just Visser Three as we know him; the Yeerk with an Andalite host. He's been toying with alien machinery, and along with his cronies, Visser Three has blended together all of the races the Yeerks have enslaved, into one super strong host, which he has taken for himself.

Now, Visser Three is planning a revolt against the Yeerk leaders, and he's on his way to meet up with an ally of his, Visser Five; one Yeerk we haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet.

We on the other hand, are on our way to stop that meeting.

I had been asleep since we moved from the Sub-Visser's ship, which I had fun trashing, and I woke up to the sound of people yelling over me.

My eyes opened, and I looked up from the floor to see my cousin Jake standing above me, Marco by his side and Sub-Visser Thirteen opposite them, looking very flustered.

"We did _not_ agree to do that!" Jake yelled.

Sub-Visser Thirteen smugly placed her hands on her hips and laughed sardonically. She was a typical Yeerk host, tall, powerful and attractive. The Sub-Visser was a handsome woman, but not as beautiful as Taylor, the sadistic Sub-Visser who once nearly killed Tobias, and definitely unlike Taylor, she was a professional, and a woman, not a petulant little girl.

"What? Do you honestly think that I only planned to _disable_ Visser Five's ships?" she asked with an ironic smile.

"It was the sane thing to do," Marco said back. "We're not a commando team."

"But you _are _terrorists," the Sub-Visser said with a hiss.

(We prefer to be called _freedom fighters_,) Ax corrected. (And though I am familiar with the inner workings of Yeerk vessels, my friends are not. If we try to board a Pool ship, we may be captured.)

Sub-Visser Thirteen laughed bitterly. "Then I must advise you do _not_ get captured."

"That wasn't part of the deal," Jake said forcefully. "You said we were going to stop the meeting, not commandeer you a new ship."

"You owe me one," Sub-Visser Thirteen snapped. She looked down to me. "Or rather, _you_ do."

"What can I say?" I replied. "I'm in the demolition business."

Sub-Visser Thirteen harrumphed and turned back to Jake. "We are going in, one way or another. If Visser Three arrives and finds Visser Five's ships destroyed or disabled, he will suspect a trap. However, if we take over the mothership, Visser Three will dock with us, and we will have him right where we want him."

(The plan still leaves for too wide a margin for error,) Ax said nervously. (_None_ of us can be taken, especially not you, Sub-Visser. If Visser Three or Visser Five capture you, they will kill you, and reinfest you host, then torture her.)

I stood up and stretched, yawning as loud as I could to get their attention.

"Who is Visser Five?" I asked. "What do we know about him," I said, and then added "or her."

Sub-Visser Thirteen answered. "Visser Five is male. I do not know what race his host is, since he has not been seen in public for many years. It can be assumed, however, that it is a powerful host. As powerful as Visser Three's? I do not know."

"Hear that, Xena?" Marco asked, jabbing at me with an elbow. "He's a tough cookie. Think you can handle him?"

I smiled. "I don't _think_, I _know_."

(Your confidence is admirable, Rachel,) Ax said, with typical scepticism. (But we have no idea how many soldiers that Visser Five has under his command.)

(Ax is right,) Tobias said. (There could be thousands of Hork-Bajir on those ships.)

I rolled my eyes. "We've faced worse."

"Actually, Rachel, no we haven't," Jake said forcefully.

Sub-Visser Thirteen brushed past me and approached Erek. "We will arrive at the coordinates given to us by Visser Three's former host momentarily," she said. "Once we arrive, I shall give you the access codes needed to interface with the pool ship's computer."

"What do you want me to do?"

The Yeerk smiled grimly. "Nothing murderous, don't worry my little android. I just need you to lower the shields and flood the bridge with tridithalifane gas, the same chemical I used to anaesthetise our Andalite friend."

(Yeerk ships are equipped for that?) Ax asked with disbelief.

"This one is," the Sub-Visser confirmed. "The tridithalifane will knock the bridge crew unconscious. If my guess is correct, most of the Hork-Bajir will be in the barracks, and not on duty. Once we have the bridge under our control, we can seal off the rest of the ship." He

"What about Visser Five?" I asked.

"He should be in his quarters," Sub-Visser Thirteen answered. "If we move quickly enough, we can lock him up along with the Hork-Bajir."

Sub-Visser trembled for a moment. "I must acquire a Kandrona generator," she said weakly.

"Will the Pool ship have one?" Cassie asked.

"It should," the Sub-Visser replied. "I may not be able to access the full-sized pool, but a small particle generator for emergency use will suffice. I have nearly exceeded the limit of three days without access to Kandrona. I will die in less than an hour."

(Then we still have the small problem of Visser Three,) Tobias pointed out. (How much time will we have to do all this before he arrives?)

Sub-Visser Thirteen glanced down at her wristwatch. "We have thirty minutes."


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**(W**e are within visual range of Visser Five's fleet,) Ax announced with his usual Andalite serenity. We were about to go into a battle we could very well lose, and he was cool as a cucumber.

"Is the cloaking device still working?" Sub-Visser Thirteen demanded of me.

"Looks that way," I replied.

The Yeerk returned her view to the window of the Bug fighter, and along with the rest of us, stared disbelievingly at the Yeerk armada in front of us.

(Three Pool ships,) Ax said coolly. (With a half-dozen Serpent-class battleships, and two squadrons of Bug fighters, all docked. One of the Pool ships is thirty-three percent larger than the others. I surmise it is the flagship.)

"This is crazy," Marco said from behind me. "We're just one fighter, against _that_!"

(That seems to be the plan, Marco,) Tobias said dryly. (It may be suicidal, but if it all goes as she thinks it will,) he said, looking at Sub-Visser Thirteen with piercing raptor eyes, (We'll be fine.)

(Might I ask how, despite the impressive size of that fleet, that Visser Three plans to launch a coup d'état?) Ax asked the Sub-Visser. (Surely the Hork-Bajir planet is defended more heavily than Visser Three seems to think?)

The Sub-Visser's face fell for just a moment. "The vast majority of our fleet has been diverted to the Anati system under the temporary command of Visser One. Visser Three knows this. That is why he does not need a larger fleet than this."

Sub-Visser Thirteen walked over to Erek and handed him a computerised notepad. "This is the latest EFA code."

"EFA?" I asked. "What's that?"

Sub-Visser Thirteen sighed like an exasperated teacher. "EFA. Emergency fleet access code. It's a security system we borrowed from the Andalites."

(You mean _stole_,) Ax grumbled. (Yeerks do not _borrow_.)

The Sub-Visser rolled her eyes. "The EFA code allows one Yeerk of Visser or Sub-Visser rank to assume command of a ship in the event that the ship's actual commander is killed or incapacitated."

"But Visser Five isn't dead," Cassie pointed out.

"And the gas won't kill him either, just knock him out," Erek added.

"But the computer will not know that," Sub-Visser Thirteen said slyly. "The wonderful thing about tridithalifane is that it makes anyone affected by it appear to be in a coma, rather than simply unconscious."

I was beginning to understand the plan. "You can get Erek to trick the computer into thinking that you're the ship's new captain?"

"I can," the Sub-Visser said with a triumphant smile. "Provided, of course, that the Android can deploy the gas."

"The android has a name," Erek snorted. "And yes, I can spread the gas." And then Erek added with uncharacteristic animosity, "hopefully before you die of Kandrona starvation."

The Sub-Visser laughed a bitter laugh. "Just deploy the gas."

Erek's hands flew over the keys. He looked occasionally from the console out of the viewer, and back again, before stopping.

"I've set it on a time delay," Erek said. "In two minutes, the bridge will be flooded, two minutes later, the Hork-Bajir barracks and the private quarters where you say the visser will be."

Sub-Visser Thirteen, despite looking like my mom after working a seventeen-hour day, smiled, and breathed deeply. She walked stiffly to the helm at the front of the Bug fighter, where Ax stood awkwardly.

She gestured on the viewer to an area on the Pool ship. "There is an emergency docking port there," the Sub-Visser said, her voice cracking under the pressure of Kandrona starvation. "Pilot the Bug fighter toward it."

_She's about to die_, I thought. _You'd think she could manage a please_.

Ax didn't grumble anything back at her. Instead, his nimble Andalite hands tapped a few keys, and the Bug fighter began to move, worryingly fast, toward the Pool ship.

I was about to yell something nasty at Ax, but in a split second, the Bug fighter stopped.

Around me, Jake, Marco and Cassie had shut their eyes, and one by one, they opened them. I decided not to smirk.

I heard a loud clang, and the fighter shook as something hit it from outside. Sub-Visser Thirteen walked to the back of the cockpit, and turned to the left wall. I noticed that there was a circular door, like a submarine's porthole.

"You," she snapped, looking at Jake. "Open this."

Jake looked exasperated, but got up from the deck, walked to the Sub-Visser, and put his hands on a circular handle on the door. The Sub-Visser did the same.

"Turn it anticlockwise," she said, her voice drained.

With little resistance, the door began to open.

"Five seconds," Erek said from his station.

The porthole then swung open and slammed into the wall at Jake's side. He jumped backward in surprise, and the Sub-Visser managed a weak laugh.

"The gas has flooded the bridge," Erek said. "I've sealed the bulkheads connecting it to the rest of the ship. If you follow the corridor in front of you, you will be there in about minute."

Marco got up, brushed past Ax, and stood between Jake and the Sub-Visser. "You sure about this, Fearless Leader?" he asked, giving the Sub-Visser a foul look. "She's gonna betray us."

"You're so yellow, Marco," I said, striding past Cassie and the unconscious Alloran. "If she wanted to do that, she would have done it already."

I got a filthy glare in return, and a weak smile from the Sub-Visser, and knew my work was done.

(I suggest we err on the side of caution,) Ax said, walking to the door and standing at my side. (I advise battle morphs for the duration of this mission.)

"Good idea, Ax," Jake agreed. "Everyone, make sure you're something that can do some damage."

That was fine with me. Since the corridors in the Pool ships were big enough for Hork-Bajir, I guessed that a Grizzly bear would fit just as easily.

"Better be quick, guys," Erek said from his station near the front. "The second load of gas is about to be deployed in the Hork-Bajor barracks and private quarters. You can morph when you get to the bridge."

Erek had a point. We had to be in position when the rest of the ship was affected by the tri-whatever gas, because if Visser Five was anywhere other than the bridge or his quarters, he could stop us from taking his ship, and we had less than half an hour before Visser Three was due to arrive.

To my surprise, Marco was first out of the door and into the Pool ship. I stood still for a few seconds, shocked, and watched as Jake and Sub-Visser Thirteen walked out, with Ax trotting out hot on their heels.

"You'd better be off too, Rachel," Cassie said from behind me. I whirled about in surprise. To think, I'd nearly forgotten that my best friend was even there.

I gave Cassie a suspicious look. "Don't you mean _we_ had better get going?"

Cassie shook her head, and wiped sweat from her brow with her 'inexpensive' sleeve.

"I'm staying here with Erek and Alloran," she said.

"Why?" I asked. I knew Cassie wasn't exactly a fighter at heart, but I refused to believe that she had become a coward.

"In case something goes wrong, I want to be here with Erek to rescues you," she said, forcing out a brave smile. "He can't attack the Yeerks, even to save you, and we know we can't rely on Alloran to help."

I nodded. Alloran had proven to be less than helpful.

Giving Cassie a quick hug, and waving goodbye to Erek, I headed to the porthole door, stepped through it, and raced after the others.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Visser Five's Pool ship was different to the one I remember being captured on, all those months ago, not long after the start of our insane little adventure.

The corridors were taller and darker; the walls were a kind of steel-coloured grey with little green spotlights every few inches along them.

I jogged down the hall toward the voices of the others. I could hear Jake and Marco talking over the Sub-Visser. Ax's hooves made loud clanging sounds on the metal floor as he trotted along. I turned a sharp corner, and practically fell over when I heard Sub-Visser Thirteen scream, and immediately afterward, Jake and Marco yelling, and Tobias and Ax thought-speaking pretty loudly.

Running farther, I turned another sharp bend in the corridor, and stopped when I saw Sub-Visser Thirteen, on her back, having what looked like some kind of seizure. Her whole body was shaking and twitching, and just as I took a step closer, the began to scream.

(The fugue,) Ax said, almost sounding sad. (The Yeerk is dying, we need to get her to a Kandrona.)

Not so long ago, it had been Jake undergoing the fugue; or really the Yeerk that had taken over his mind. We'd tied him up for three days and kept him there until it simply died.

Only Cassie had been there when it had happened, but she'd told me everything. I was her best friend after all.

She told me how Jake ---- the Yeerk inside Jake ---- had screamed and thrashed around, and finally crawled out of Jake's head and died.

Ax had told us that it was a Yeerk's instinct to crawl out of the host when they were about to die. I hated Yeerks, and I wanted nothing more than for all of them to die.

But even so, it was hard not to feel pity for that one Yeerk. It had died, alone, and with its pride crushed by kids; dying with the frustration of knowing our secret, but with no one to tell.

(The bridge is just up ahead,) Ax said, breaking into a gallop. (Prince Jake, Rachel, follow me with the Sub-Visser!)

And then, as if on cue, came Marco's pointless objection.

"Whoa, wait just a second!" he yelled at Ax, who looked back with a confused expression on his mouth-less face.

Marco, rather than looking spineless, now looked pretty angry. He stood right next to the Sub-Visser's body, and stood in my way as Jake and I tried to lift her up.

"Get out of my way, you dweeb," I said, pushing Marco so I could get to the Sub-Visser's feet.

As I guessed he would, Marco got back in front of me.

"Do you know what you're doing?" he asked, glaring at me, not blinking.

"Saving her life," I said, guessing already where Marco was going with his question.

Jake came and stood behind Marco. I watched as he reached out to put a hand on Marco's shoulder. At the last second, he decided against it.

"You mean saving _its_ life." Marco practically hissed at me; I could see tears in the corners of his dark eyes.

"She already said the host was voluntary," Jake said from over Marco's shoulder.

Marco whirled around at Jake and screamed at him: "She's lying! She _deserves_ to die!"

Ax trotted back to the Sub-Visser, and with a lot of effort from his weak Andalite arms, picked up the tall woman and put her on his back.

(I am taking the Sub-Visser to the Kandrona generator on the bridge,) Ax said. (We can debate whether or not she should die when the decision is in _our_ hands, not the hands of fate.)

With that, Ax slowly walked down the corridor with the Sub-Visser's prone form. There was a brief silence. I heard a door open not too far away, heard Ax trot inside, and heard it close again.

Marco sat down on the floor, put his head in his hands, and sighed.

"Come on, get up, you geek," I said jokingly.

"Get bent," Marco shot back, not looking up.

I glowered down at Marco. Okay, he was upset, and he had every right to be. His mom was a Controller, and maybe the Sub-Visser made him think of her, but I wasn't going to take insults from him.

I opened my mouth to speak, but Jake beat me to it.

"Get up, Marco."

No reply.

"He said get up, Marco," I said angrily.

In that split second after my lips closed, Marco leapt to him his feet, pulled his fist back, threw a punch at me and ---

---disappeared!


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

There was a sudden, sharp flash of blue light as Marco's knuckles came to within millimetres of my nose. I could actually see the tiny hairs on his hand, in the instant before he vanished.

For a few moments, Jake and I stood there, saying nothing. It didn't last long.

"What the hell just happened?" Jake said, his voice sounding like a whisper.

I looked around; for some reason I half expected the midget to have rematerialised somewhere nearby.

No such bad luck.

"We've seen some weird stuff," Jake said. Right he was. "But I can safely say I've never seen someone just disappear in a flash of light."

I laughed half-heartedly. "I'm more surprised that the little shrimp took a swing at me. Who knew he had it in him?"

Jake gave me a face that said it all. _Don't make jokes_.

Tobias just sat perched on a pipe running along the ceiling. His fierce raptor eyes didn't show any sign of what he was feeling.

"Let's go find Ax, maybe he can help," I suggested, trying to be helpful.

(I'm going to stay out here, guys,) Tobias said. (If any Hork-Bajir or deranged vissers come down the hall, I'll give you a tweet.)

Jake nodded, and took off down the corridor. I gave Tobias a concerned look; he bobbed his head at me and took off down the hall. I followed Jake, and realised that I hadn't done this much running in my own body for a long time.

We came to a door with some weird Yeerk writing on it. Obviously, neither of us could read Yeerk or Galard, but the door was twice as large as all the others, and the frame was gold. If ever there was a way of saying 'what lies behind me is important', this door said it loudly and obnoxiously.

The door opened with a hiss, and Jake and I stepped inside.

We looked around together, and saw that the bridge was totally empty. There were computer stations everywhere; it looked just like the bridge of the _Enterprise_. The huge, raised chair in the centre just screamed 'the Visser with a huge ego sits in me.'

"You certainly took your time!" shouted an imperious Russian voice.

Jake and I practically fell over. It was Sub-Visser Thirteen. She was walking toward us from a station behind and left of the door, where Ax stood, pressing buttons, next to a heap of unconscious Hork-Bajir.

That explained why all the computer stations were empty.

"Nice to see you, too," Jake said acidly.

The Sub-Visser gave a false smile. In her left hand, I could see a tiny glowing yellow sphere that was making a humming sound, and pulsing with light.

Sub-Visser Thirteen noticed my interest, and held up the ball. "Emergency Kandrona particle emitter," she said, her accent making the R's sound like purrs. "Fortunately, your Andalite friend knew where to find them."

Without looking away from his computer, Ax said: (Under the Visser's throne was hardly the least obvious place to look.)

"Where is the small one?" the Sub-Visser demanded. "Was he not with you?"

Jake's face fell noticeably. "_Was_ is the operative word," he said glumly.

Ax immediately stopped working and came to stand with us. His bright Andalite eyes look genuinely worried. (What happened to Marco, Prince Jake?)

Jake clearly didn't know what to say. Maybe it was that his best friend had just vanished in front of him while about to punch his dearest cousin, me, square in the face. Maybe it was because we were about to steal a Yeerk pool ship and fight Visser Three's insanely power Blade ship.

Whatever it was, I answered for him.

"Marco vanished in the corridor," I said succinctly.

The Sub-Visser raised an eyebrow. "_Disappeared_?" she repeated mockingly, clearly not believing me. "Could you be more precise?"

"There was a flash of light, and Marco vanished. That's what happened. I can't be more precise than that, _comrade_," I said, smirking.

"_Mandavoshka_," the Sub-Visser hissed under her breath, before turning around, pushing past Ax, and going to the console he had been using.

My knowledge of Russian was less than laughable, but I didn't need a PhD to work out that she wasn't being very flattering.

Ax, however, decided to stay with us.

(Where is Tobias?) he asked with genuine concern.

Tobias was Ax's best friend; what Andalites call a 'shorm'. It's the same word they use for that nasty blade on their tails. Apparently, if someone is your shorm, they should be able to hold their blade to your throat, and you wouldn't be worried. Scary stuff.

"Bird boy is outside," I said, gesturing over my shoulder to the door. "he'll warn us if anything comes our way."

Ax nodded, looking satisfied.

"What do you think got Marco, Ax? Some kind of transporter?" I asked him, trying to be helpful. "It sure looked like one to me. You know, bright light, person vanishes. Seems similar."

Ax's stalk-eyes wriggled. (Such a device does not exist, Rachel. A matter-energy converter such as a 'transporter' would require technology far in advance of anything the Yeerks, or even the Andalites have access to.)

Behind Ax, the Sub-Visser seemed to be getting increasingly angry with her computer.

"_Na khuya_?" she screamed at it, slamming her fists down on the console. "Why is it not working?"

The three of us went over to her. Ax went and stood at the Sub-Visser's side at the computer. His four eyes narrowed in concentration as he seemed to work out her problem.

(The computer is not accepting the EFA codes,) Ax stated coolly.

The Sub-Visser moved to another computer along the wall, pressed a series of buttons, and stepped back.

"Android, can you hear me?" she said, talking toward the ceiling.

A brief pause.

A muffled sound of static.

"_Go ahead, Yeerk,"_ came Erek's sardonic reply.

Not taking the bait, the Sub-Visser put her hands on her hips and looked at the difficult console. "The Pool ship is not accepting the EFA codes. I require your assistance in breaking the encryption. Please come to the bridge."

Erek was silent for a moment.

"_I think there's something else you should know_," he said with grim undertones.

"What's up, Erek?" Jake asked, looking a bit embarrassed at talking to a wall.

"_Visser Five, I think. Either he was in some really isolated part of the ship, or he was immune to the knockout gas. It's his code that's been used to override Sub-Visser Thirteen's._"

The Sub-Visser looked shocked. "Impossible," she said flatly. "I developed tridithalifane myself. It is one hundred percent effective on all host species." She sighed. "He must have been somewhere the gas could not reach."

"One other thing, Erek," I said. "Marco just disappeared from the hall outside the bridge. Any explanations?"

I hoped that, being a ridiculously smart android with thousands of years experience under his belt that Erek might have at least a small idea as to where Marco may have gone.

"_Where exactly did he go from?_" Erek asked over the communicator.

Jake and I then walked to the door of the bridge to go back outside and find the place Marco had vanished from. We reached the door at the same time, but it didn't open.

I gave the huge door an angry face. "Open up, dammit!"

The Sub-Visser came and stood by our side, looking equally annoyed and puzzled. "Computer, open the bridge door," she said.

But instead of the dull computer's voice issuing a reply, a rumbling, bass-augmented voice rippled over the speakers on the bridge, and at the same time, a pair of glowing yellow eyes appeared on the enormous screen at the other end of the bridge.

The three of us whirled about, as did Ax.

"Sub-Visser Thirteen," the strange voice said.

"Visser Five, I presume," the Sub-Visser replied, more stating than asking.

The yellow eyes moved in the darkness, and I heard what I guessed was laughter.

"Your brave attempt at stealing my flagship notwithstanding, I regret that I am going to have to kill you all for your insolence," Visser Five said darkly, clearly addressing the Sub-Visser. "You, on the other hand," he said, the eyes looking at Jake and me, "are going to be extracted from your hosts and demoted to Gedds for as long as you live."

I looked at Jake. I couldn't say anything, but his face said the same thing. _He thinks we're Controllers_.

"And as for you, Andalite," the Visser said to Ax. "You will make an excellent new host for my second-in-command. I may even get a promotion myself for capturing you."

Ax took a few delicate steps forward, proudly slammed his left-front hoof down, and promptly vanished in the same blinding flash of light as Marco!


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"**W**hat just happened?" Visser Five's eerie voice shouted at us; his glowing yellow eyes turning to a dark red. Given that was all we could see of him, it was quite disturbing. "Where is the Andalite?"

Sub-Visser Thirteen looked at us. "Say nothing," she ordered. "Make him work for his information."

Visser Five laughed again. Though it did not sound like laughter to me, I guessed that the flanged, rumbling sound that followed the Sub-Visser's orders was whatever passed for an expression of amusement for Visser Five.

(Rachel, what's going on? The door won't open!)

_Tobias!_ I thought. He was stuck outside in the corridor. I couldn't morph and reply to him. If I did that, then Visser Five would know that he had more than one member of the resistance with him than just our resident Andalite.

(Rachel?) Tobias repeated. (Rachel? Hellooooo?)

For just a second, Tobias sounded like Marco, and for that, I wanted to clip his wings and cook him for Thanksgiving dinner. Sub-Visser Thirteen could have replied, but that nifty device she'd invented to use Thoughtspeak out of morph had been destroyed by Visser Three.

"You are a fool, Eskrill," Visser Five said, his eyes moving closer to the screen. And then, we all got a glimpse of the Visser's true form.

The yellow, colour-changing eyes belonged to a creature that, to me anyway, looked more like the Incredible Hulk than anything else. The Visser's host body was a colossal, monstrous green creature with scaly, rough skin and what looked like miniature versions of Hork-Bajir blades coming out of its forearms.

The host was definitely not small, but I couldn't see anything more of the body; it was dressed in long, black robes that covered the chest, stomach and legs completely. The face was weirdly human-like; the ears were smooth and curved, and the lips small, but black instead of pink.

"Do not address me familiarly," Sub-Visser Thirteen growled. She looked at the image of the Visser on the screen, and smirked. "Those robes belong to a Councillor of Thirteen," she said, smiling broadly. "A bottom-feeding _mudilo_ like yourself does not deserve them."

I could have sworn that I heard something outside. It sounded like hooves trotting on the deck plating in the hallway.

_Ax! _I thought excitedly. But I immediately dismissed the idea. There was someone else with hooves we knew all too well.

Jake, the Sub-Visser and I all turned and ducked as the bridge door literally exploded at us in a conflagration of steel and who knows what other weird alien metals the thing was made of. In a second, I saw him.

The Abomination.

Visser Three.

Who had all too recently had a freakish makeover. Visser Three stood in the doorway, which was just big enough to contain his colossal frame. As if a Yeerk in the body of a full-grown Andalite War-Prince wasn't scary enough, Visser Three had upgraded himself to a super-host that he'd had the un-Yeerklike originality to make himself.

The body was like an Andalites'; centaur-like, with a long tail ending in a fearsome weapon. Unlike an Andalite, the face had a mouth, lined with shark teeth, and patchy skin that was blue fur in places, and green scales in others.

"Your master has arrived!" Visser Three boomed. Oh yeah, did I mention this thing talks, and doesn't use thought speak?

Sub-Visser Thirteen trembled with rage at my side. Jake looked stoic but brave. I, of course, just stood there. Visser or not, I wasn't scared of some slug.

"Visser Three," Visser Five said, bowing his head. "I was unaware your ship had arrived."

With a dramatic slashing motion of his tail, as if to take off someone's head, Visser Three took a few steps onto the bridge, and looked casually at the screen that Visser Five was speaking to us on.

"Where are you, you imbecile?" Visser Three demanded. "You allowed these insurgents access to the command centre of your vessel?"

Visser Five looked unsure of what to say.

"Where are you, fool?" Visser Three yelled.

There was an uncomfortable silence. Visser Three was standing just in front of me, about five metres away. I knew I could make it to the door if I ran fast enough. I wasn't sure though if I could make it out to the hallway before Visser Three lopped off my head with that nasty tail of his.

_Tobias!_ I thought, remembering that he'd been out in the hall, keeping guard. Why hadn't he warned us that Visser Three was coming?

"I am in the auxiliary control room on Deck Five, Visser Three," was Visser Five's uncertain reply.

Visser Three's tail swung slowly from side to side with the rhythm of a metronome. He looked down at me and Jake. "What did she promise you to make you betray me?" he asked, looking at me with his red eyes.

"Making you shut up," I snapped back at him.

I realised what I'd said too late, and half expected Visser Three to detach my head from my neck with a nice clean slice from his tail blade.

Instead, his monstrous host body laughed, and his tail continued to swing in the air, not killing anyone; which was very out of character.

"Shall I join you on the bridge, Visser Three?" Visser Five asked from his hidey-hole on the other side of the transmission.

Stopping his tail in mid-air and smiling at the screen, Visser Three shook his head. "There is no need."

Visser Five's green, Hulk-ish face looked puzzled. "Might I ask why, Visser?"

The hybrid's shark-teeth smile became a mad leer. "I have already sent someone for you."

There was a flash of a blade shining the in semi-light behind Visser Five on the screen, a muffled cry of guttural Hork-Bajir speech, and a sound like swords hitting each other. I heard Visser Five yelling in Galard; his voice sounding distant.

In Visser Five's place, a Hork-Bajir appeared on the screen; a Hork-Bajir that looked oddly familiar.

"He got away, _Visser_," the Hork-Bajir said.

I looked back at Visser Three. He was gone.

But in his place, I saw a silver and ivory statue. For just a moment I thought I was looking at a Snoopy cartoon gone into the Star Trel century. Then I realised who it was.

"Erek the Chee," Jake said with a laugh.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

**I **wasn't feeling quite as cheerful as Jake. I glared at Erek, who shrugged sheepishly as his human hologram took shape over his Pemalite-constructed body.

"Impressive," Sub-Visser Thirteen purred. "Who, may I ask, is the one who attacked Visser Five?"

The Hork-Bajir on the screen did something very un-Hork-Bajir like. It smiled broadly, and seemed to laugh.

"My partner in crime," Erek sapid proudly as Tobias gave me a thumbs-up; or in the case of a Hork-Bajir, a machete-up.

Sub-Visser Thirteen walked past me and stood in front of the screen, looking intently at Tobias. "Pursue Visser Five," she said; it sounded more like a request than an order. I guessed she was softening up.

"I'd love to," Tobias said. "But he disappeared when I attacked him."

The Sub-Visser made a sound of disgust. "Then _find_ him, you fool."

Tobias' borrowed Hork-Bajir eyes narrowed. "Firstly, _Jake_ is my boss, not you," he said fiercely. "Secondly, when I say Visser Five disappeared, I mean it literally; he actually went _invisible_."

"Impossible," the Sub-Visser spat.

Erek moved behind the Sub-Visser to the computer that she and Ax had been using before. Using his Chee super-speed, Erek began typing things into the machine so fast that I couldn't keep up with his individual keystrokes.

"What are you doing?" the Sub-Visser demanded.

Erek ignored her, and Jake stood next to him, watching the screen.

"What's a Riyu?" he asked, looking first to Erek, and then to the Sub-Visser. Pointing at the screen, Jake looked around, hoping for an answer. "It says here that Visser Five's host is something called a Riyu. Any ideas?"

Sub-Visser Thirteen shrugged. "A new species, only recently discovered," she suggested. "I have been on Earth for some time, and I have had little contact with the Council of Thirteen. I have no doubt that many new conquests have been made recently without my knowledge."

"How useful," Tobias said wryly.

I stood next to Jake and Erek, peering over their shoulders. "What else does it say about this Riyu host? How does it go invisible?"

"I am uncertain," the Sub-Visser said from behind us. "It is likely, however, that the creature emits tachyon particles to camouflage itself."

Jake and I shrugged.

"The same things that the Yeerk cloaking devices use," Erek supplied helpfully. "Crude, but effective."

I threw my hands up in exasperation. I couldn't deal with everyone anymore. We'd just lost Marco and Ax, and they cared more about science and _theories_ about invisible vissers?

"One thing at a time, guys!" I yelled. "We need to find Ax and Marco!"

Erek turned around from the computer. His holographic eyes made it look like he was genuinely concerned for Ax and Marco. "I have a theory, Rachel, but you're not going to like it."

_Great, another theory_, I said to myself. "Sure, what is it?" I asked amiably.

I think Erek picked up on my sarcasm, but before continuing, he looked at Tobias, who had decided to sit down on the floor, still in view of the screen.

"You might want to get down here too, Tobias," Erek said to him. "This is important, and I don't want to explain it twice."

Tobias promptly got up, and for just a second, it looked like he was melting. The Hork-Bajir body simply began to dissolve into goo, and Tobias become a featureless blob for just a moment, before his bird body began to reappear. Feathers just slithered out of the blob-like mass that was Tobias, followed quickly by raptor talons and a fearsome beak and piercing yellow eyes.

With a quick goodbye squawk, Tobias was gone, and the screen shut off, and I breathed a sigh of relief. It was nice not to have to talk to a TV anymore.

The next few minutes passed awkwardly. I stood with Jake, making small talk about what Ax and Marco might have gotten themselves into, while Sub-Visser Thirteen quizzed Erek about how he was created.

Despite him flatly refusing to answer any of her questions that related to his technology, she kept at it, until Tobias fluttered in through the smashed door, and perched himself on the big throne in the centre of the room, looking at us with a quizzical bird expression.

"Okay, I guess everyone's here," Erek said, giving everyone a look, one at a time. "As I said, I have an idea, and I'm gonna have to explain this fast, because Visser Three will be here in thirty minutes."

Sub-Visser Thirteen gave Erek a glare that could have melted steel. "Then please, explain," she said in the most sarcastic voice I'd ever heard.

Erek didn't bite back. Instead, he looked at Jake and started talking; slowly, in almost the same way as those guys who read out on audio books.

"There's an old Pemalite legend about a creature that steals people from spaceships, and even from planets. The information I have says that whenever someone disappeared, they vanished in a bright flash of light, and were never seen from again," Erek said grimly. "This creature announced itself to the Pemalites only once before the Howlers destroyed them, and called itself the Caretaker."


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"**Y**ou say that this is no more than a legend?" Sub-Visser Thirteen asked.

Erek nodded.

The Sub-Visser made a contemplative noise, and walked away from us, not saying anything, sat down on the control throne on the centre of the bridge.

Spinning the throne around so that she was again facing us, she finally said something. "It so happens that the previous Sub-Visser Thirteen vanished in the same way you have all described."

"Seriously?" I asked, surprised, and then wanted to smack myself for sounding like such an idiot.

"In the _exact_ same way?" Jake inquired. "Flash of light, no warning?"

Sub-Visser Thirteen smiled, and cocked an eyebrow, looking about as sceptical as anyone I've ever seen. "Seems too coincidental, doesn't it?"

"Not coincidental," I said, "so much as incredibly annoying. We stood no chance against Visser Three with all of us together. We're gonna get slaughtered now that we're two down."

"Erek," Jake said, "Tell us more about the Caretaker. What was he doing, stealing all these people from spaceships?"

Shutting down his holographic disguise, Erek sat down on the rough, metal floor of the Pool ship, and put his head in his hands; a very human thing to do, given that he was, basically, a robot doggy.

"_She_, actually," Erek corrected. "The one image of the Caretaker that existed showed a tall blue-skinned woman with flame-red hair and bright yellow eyes."

(A girl, huh?) Tobias asked rhetorically. (Makes sense I guess,) he said, giving me an unreadable look with his raptor eyes. Maybe it was meant to be a joke. I wasn't quite sure.

Sub-Visser Thirteen, who was still reclining almost lazily in the throne, seemed less than satisfied with his explanation. "This does not fit the pattern of the Caretaker's previous abductions," she said abruptly.

"No, it doesn't," I agreed. "Erek said that the Caretaker took captains and important people. Not that I want to insult Ax or anything, but he wasn't particularly important."

(Not in the grand scheme of things,) Tobias was quick to add.

"I guess not," Jake said sombrely. "Same for Marco, I suppose. I mean, sure, we're all fighting a really important fight for our planet, but how does that make us special enough to kidnap?"

Erek's ears twitched. "Was the last Sub-Visser Thirteen doing anything important?" he asked our resident Yeerk.

Sub-Visser Thirteen looked contemplative for a second, but before she could answer, the console on the wall behind her began to make sounds that said "Hey, pay attention to me!"

Before she could make it there, Erek shot faster than Superman, up from the floor to the wall. He stood there for a few seconds, tapping keys and twitching his doggy ears. I walked over to him and stood by his side, looking at the screen. I couldn't read a word of it, being in Yeerk as it was, but Erek's Labrador-features look pretty worried.

"Visser Three is approaching," Erek said coolly. "And he's not alone."

"What do you mean, Erek?" I asked. "Who's with him? I thought all his reinforcements were on this ship."

"And the others outside," Jake added, referring to the armada of Yeerk pool ships hanging in the space around us.

Erek shook his head nervously. "Visser Three's Blade ship just dropped out of Z-Space, heavily damaged, and fighting another ship."

I wanted to scream. _Another ship?_

"Put it on the viewer," the Sub-Visser commanded, whirling her throne about so that she faced directly forward at the enormous viewscreen. Moments later, we saw Visser Three's Blade ship in the distance, lurching through space as it was hit by red energy beams.

(Who does _that_ thing belong to?) Tobias asked.

The ship trailing Visser Three, and shooting at him quite nicely, was about half the size of the Blade ship, and looked strangely like a mix between a cruise ship and a scythe. The front end was a large, very box-like compartment, whilst the end was long, thin, and curved into two points that nearly, but did not quite meet at the end.

"Never seen it before," Erek said, anticipating the question that someone was bound to ask him.

The Sub-Visser frantically tapped commands into the computer station, turned from it, and looked upward. "Computer?"

There was a brief pause. "Affirmative," said the bored Yeerk computer.

"Who is the commander of this vessel?" she asked.

"Visser Five," was the cool reply.

Sub-Visser Thirteen threw her hands up to the air and turned back to the computer station, continuing to hammer the keys like a crazed pianist.

"Incoming transmission, emergency frequency," said the computer.

Erek stood up, and I watched as his holographic disguise rippled back over his ivory robot body. I was surprised to see that in place of his human disguise, Erek took on the form of Visser Five; a hulking green creature, shrouded in black and red robes.

"Put it on the viewer," he said in a perfect imitation of Visser Five's voice.

At once the stars and the fighting ships vanished, and Visser Three's freakish hybrid body appeared on the screen. He was in bad shape, and I grinned inwardly. The Visser was bleeding from a large gash across his face, and his patchwork skin was burned in more places than I could count.

"Visser Five!" Visser Three screeched. "Destroy this insolent pest that dares to attack me!"

I rolled my eyes. Thankfully, Jake and I stood out of sight, and I doubted Sub-Visser Thirteen could be seen either.

Erek bowed his holographic head to the screen. "As you command, Visser."

Visser Three vanished from the screen as his ship was hit again, and I guessed his communications system was destroyed. Sub-Visser Thirteen transmitted orders to disable the attacking ship to the other pool ships and Yeerk battlecruisers, and moments later, received confirmation.

"All Yeerk vessels," Erek said in the grand, self-important tone of a Visser. "In the name of the Holy Kandrona, open fire!"


End file.
